The Musical That Celebrates Musicals...And It’s “GRAND! GRAND! GRAND!”
42nd Street returns with The Lexington Theatre Company
As observed by Kevin Lane Dearinger
The coincidence seems telling.
The backstage story of 42nd Street began in 1932, with a book by Bradford Ropes, a dancer who knew firsthand every theatre town in America. In chapter seven of his novel, actor Pat Denning is offered a stock company job “in Lexington, Kentucky.” Were the novel fact and not fiction, that could only have meant a booking at our very own Lexington Opera House.
It’s more than a coincidence.
It’s a sign!
That venerable venue is now hosting 42nd Street, the musical that pulls out the stops to salute all that is miraculous about the theatre and the folks who create the magic of musicals.
It is a show that sings and dances and grins with delight, all in tribute to the traditions and glories of Musical Comedy.
It’s about BROADWAY, baby! All caps and bright lights, high hopes and heart.
That 42nd Street is being produced by The Lexington Theatre Company means that this theatrical magic will be spectacular.
For starters, The Lex has once more assembled another splendid cast.
When aspiring chorus dancer Peggy Sawyer is reminded that she is only a “speck of dust” on Broadway, she doesn’t shrink away. She beams with pride. Just to be there. Just to be part of a show. That’s the glory!
As Peggy Sawyer, Elizabeth McGuire transforms this pride and glory into story-telling fireworks. This sensitive and skilled performer has a long history with The Lex, dancing in seven shows with the company, often serving as dance captain and director-choreographer assistant. She calls herself a “brave collaborator.” Now, she steps out of the ensemble “to come back a star.” Ms. McGuire possesses the delicacy of a ballet dancer and the sturdy strength of a vaudeville hoofer. Her gracious smile, euphoric presence, and impressive talent send a surge of bliss out into the Opera House auditorium. To quote the show, she’s “a looker,” “can chirp like a bird,” and is “pretty hot stuff in the steps department, too.” She can also act. Tender, smart, and winning in every moment. We cheer her on, feeling somehow that as she succeeds, we succeed. And for the record, her comic timing is superb. Ms. McGuire radiates a confident gentility and an artistic purity that seems to bless the entire production.
The show is similarly blessed by the thoughtful work of Broadway veteran Ron Bohmer as Julian Marsh, the hard-driving director of Pretty Lady, the musical within the musical. Unlike Peggy, Marsh is tough. He’s been around the block in the theatre district and knows what can go wrong with a show, but he keeps his eye on what can make a show magical. Mr. Bohmer finds the artist under the crust of Marsh’s experience, quietly recognizing Peggy’s star-dusted “Broadway dreams” as a reflection of his own long-tarnished, still-cherished dreams.
In further inspired casting, Kristen Beth Williams, another accomplished Broadway pro, plays Dorothy Brock, the troubled leading lady, with a wealth of goodness under her imperious exterior. What Ms. Williams brings to the role is unlimited charm. She is beautiful, elegant, adroitly comic, touchingly vulnerable, and gifted with a glorious voice.
In another stroke of smart casting, Griffin Wilkins’ Billy Lawlor is the quintessential, shining juvenile lead. With a shamrock-inflected tenor voice that rings from here to Killarney and a dimpling smile that glows with charisma, Mr. Wilkins moves on gifted feet, tapping skillfully and even gleefully. His “We’re in the Money” could make the sky rain quarters and dimes, but this young dancer possesses a finesse that in a particular pleasure to watch. It may sound silly, but watch his arms, strong and graceful, extended from the joy in his heart.
In the musical comedy tradition of Ado Annie and Will Parker, Carrie and her Mr. Snow, Ellie and Frank, hometown favorites Karyn Czar and Brance Cornelius bring their comic and vocal talents to Maggie and Bert, the songwriters for Pretty Lady. As always, these actors can drive a scene, land their laughs, and sell a song, but with a threat of comic mayhem present in every delightful moment.
Another reliable charmer, Ari’el Chaim Barmor, last season’s Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, unveils his tap talents as Andy Lee, the choreographer of Pretty Lady, and Matthew Belopavlovich contributes a warm and appealing performance as Dorothy Brock’s secret lover, Pat Denning. Dorothy’s gullible sugar daddy Abner Dillon is given comic exuberance by Tim X. Davis, Lazar Wolf in last year’s Fiddler. Caroline Lynch Desmarais, Melissa Lynne Jones, and Jess Zlystra, all returning to The Lex, make their comic marks as Peggy’s wise-cracking pals. (“Anytime!”) And Dan Klimko returns as well, once more doffing his offstage affability to play a variety of gruffs and roughs.
In its ten wonderful years, The Lex has never failed to gather an outstanding Ensemble of triple-threat performers. 42nd Street is the sort of show where surprised “chorus girls” might scream “eek,” but never underestimate the power, talent, and sheer show-biz stamina of this ensemble. They are mighty in number and mighty in craft—splendidly trained and disciplined dancers who never stop meeting and surpassing the challenges of this notoriously demanding musical. Like all great pros, they show the thrilling effect but not the exhausting effort of long hours of rehearsal.
In a musical about a musical, life and art can interact in wondrous ways. Watch the moment early on when Julian Marsh tells his newly-hired dancers that if they don’t think they can commit to hard work, they can simply quit before they start. Each individual of the ensemble smiles and stands a bit straighter, feet firmly planted on the stage, refusing to even consider such a foolish impossibility. Giving up is not an option. Ever.
Guiding that magnificent ensemble in a recreation of Randy Skinner’s Tony-Nominated 2001 revival choreography, Kristyn Pope has brought a professional’s precision and a performer’s soul to the show’s extraordinary dances. When the entire company—minus an indisposed diva and her gentleman friend—breaks into the “Lullaby of Broadway,” the tears of joy will roll down your smiling face. When the title number finally explodes across the stage, you will cheer for the entire glorious history of musical comedy. “Naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty...”
It is, well, just everything!
Director Lyndy Franklin Smith creates a cinematic flow in the staging, keeping the excitement vigorously alive from moment to moment, and, in musical comedy tradition, from one high peak to the next. And always, she makes Broadway’s glitter glisten with the true gold of the human heart. That heart is apparent in every show Ms. Smith directs.
And so much more.
Brock Terry, shining in the orchestra pit, leading seventeen fine musicians (playing a mind-bending number of instruments) through one of Broadway’s most rousing scores, from the first notes of the overture to the final flourish of the exit music.
Tanya Harper’s always dazzling lighting. Eat your tinsel heart out, Times Square!
Elizabeth Payne and her team’s care with the flourish and sparkle of the costumes. Billowing sleeves and flounces, straw boaters and feathered hats, sequins and sheer fabric, and always soigné.
The always sensitive ear of Marcus Ross guiding the sound system, and the invaluable Kevin D. Nedberg and Esther Neel making sure that the stage is picture perfect.
But to end with a particularly fine moment:
In a show full of pulse-thumping theatricality, there is a scene in the second act that brings the excitement down to the beating of two hearts. It is a moment, simply staged with tap shoes off, that warms the heart with human kindness. It is a scene that honors another signature tenet within the mission and history of The Lexington Theatre Company.
“Paying it forward.”
That rippling effect of kindness repaid, not to the original benefactor, but onward, to the next artist, the next generation.
The song is called “A Quarter to Nine.”
Star-lady Dorothy Brock puts aside her own professional worries to offer advice and support to Broadway-hopeful, Peggy Sawyer. Ms. Williams and Ms. McGuire play the scene with emotional transparency and tender understanding. This moment, in its quiet way, becomes the heart and soul of the show.
Director Smith, producer Jeromy Smith, Mr. Bohmer, Ms. Pope, Ms. McGuire, Ms. Williams, Mr. Cornelius: they all have earlier experiences with 42nd Street. Now, they each are “paying forward” their stories and their skills to a talented company full of future directors, choreographers, Julians, Dorothys, Billys, Berts, Maggies, and Peggys. Another level of theatrical magic.
The Lex, of course, prides itself on professional excellence and on educating that next generation of artists.
Yes!
Ten years ago, 42nd Street proved to be the perfect show to launch a new theatre company.
Ten years later, it is the perfect show to celebrate a decade of achievement and growth.
And the perfect show to illuminate the bright lights of the future for The Lexington Theatre Company.
It’s the musical that you have to see if you love musicals. And see again. And see again.
As Peggy Sawyer would insist, it’s “Grand! Grand! Grand!”
The Lexington Theatre Company’s production of 42nd Street plays the Lexington Opera House for six glorious performances, July 10-13. Curtain time on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening at 7:30, Sunday at 6:30, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:00.
Kevin Lane Dearinger is a retired actor, singer, and teacher. His published works include four theatre histories, six volumes of poetry, several plays, and two memoirs, Bad Sex in Kentucky and On Stage with Bette Davis: Inside the Fabulous Flop of Miss Moffat. His theatrical career took him to Broadway, on tour across the United States, Canada, and Japan, and to many of the best regional theatres in the country. Cast lists have called him Freddy, Cornelius, Motel, Albert, Henrik, Enoch, Enoch, Jr., Jim, Etienne, Courtice, Herman, Charlie, Lucas, Sam, Paul, Mac, Josiah, Frank, Billy, Sylvester, Waldo, Teenager, The Boy, Androcles, Dromio, First Bartender, Footman, Flunky, Also Featuring, Others in Cast Include, and quite a few other character names. When he was very young, he sang in a Broadway tribute to director Joshua Logan at the Imperial Theatre; his last professional performance was in a Broadway tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the New Amsterdam. He is proud of his Actors Equity Pension and counts among his blessings the privilege of sitting in on rehearsals with The Lexington Theatre Company.
